SIR WALTER FOSTER (Derbyshire, Ilkeston)To ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will state the results of the use of Dr. Danysz's virus for the destruction of rats as applied in Cape Town in the year 1901; and, if the results were satisfactory, whether he will order the same means to be used to destroy rats at the other South African ports affected by plague, and in the Transvaal.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton.) I understand that the results of the use at Cape Town of Danysz's virus did not afford grounds for supposing that it was efficacious in the extermination of rats on a large scale. The means to be used to destroy rats at British South African ports are a matter for the Governments of the Cape of Good Hope and Natal. In the case of the Transvaal, I see no reason to interfere with the discretion of the local government and its medical advisers, in whose competence to deal with the plague epidemic Lord Milner has full confidence.